Common Core should be put above politics

Wednesday

Aug 6, 2014 at 12:01 AMAug 7, 2014 at 9:00 AM

I found astounding the July 29 Dispatch article "Common Core may be altered by GOP bill." I did not see one criticism by the Republicans of any particular curriculum standard put forth by the Common Core program.

I found astounding the July 29 Dispatch article “Common Core may be altered by GOP bill.” I did not see one criticism by the Republicans of any particular curriculum standard put forth by the Common Core program.

However, there were several statements alluding to “getting the federal government out of ... education.” That is typical of the far-right wing of the GOP. It comes down to opposing the federal government, and not the curriculum standards, which already have shown success.

Yet the GOP ignores the fact that local school districts, not the federal government, are the ones that decide how to use the Common Core standards in their schools. If eliminating Common Core is such an important issue, then why are the Republicans waiting to pass the bill until one week after the elections?

Could it be they are worried about losing votes from teachers, superintendents and local school-board members who overwhelmingly support the curriculum changes? Why is the bill not going through the House Education Committee rather than the Rules Committee “that rarely hears bills”? What does the Rules Committee have to do with an education bill?

Republicans consistently send millions of taxpayers’ dollars to charter schools, where many times the money is not used properly, and schools are closed with the money never returned.

I spent 30 years teaching mathematics at the same high school. I’m sure I know more about raising math curriculum standards than anyone in the GOP.